root canal treatment - NHS and private costs & pros and cons

alison999

hethmar wrote: »

Why dont you go and have an assessment by a private dentist Mrs a - it will cost you perhaps £25 or more but if he says its no go, then at least you will feel you have done the best you can..

its not a fair comparison since a fully private dentist can offer a lot more treatment options than a nhs dentist can. they can also spend a lot more time explaining what treatment you need and why you need it, and how to prevent it happening again. the nhs does not pay dentists to 'talk'

hethmar

Well, I dont think mrs a is looking for a fair comparison alison, she just wants to know if she can save the tooth or not.

mrs_angry

alison999 wrote: »

and this is why so many dentists have left the nhs. the nhs does not encourage preventative treatment nor does it encourage dentists to take the time to do long treatments. think of it this way, would you work overtime for nothing? i agree its not right BUT maybe this dentist is doing the best that he/she can within the nhs.

and thats my point she may be doing the best she can within the nhs, not whats best for the patient, thats why people have lost confidence in nhs dentistry.

id rather nhs dentists just said look we cant do preventative care, all we now do is rip out your teeth, i know its barbaric but thats the way its going, or give you the option of going private within the practice at least.

i fear for my kids teeth what with no preventative work being done, best get saving so they can have private work done now!

mrs_angry

[ the nhs does not pay dentists to 'talk'[/quote]

i wouldnt go in to an nhs hospital for an op and not have it explained to me what was going to happen to my body.

so why any different for an nhs dentist? are they not human?

~Chameleon~

I really feel for you Mrs A having been through a similar experience recently with my dentist. If I'd just gone along with their initial advice I'd have had two teeth extracted by now. As it is, I managed to get away with a filling, albeit a deep one, but at least it's given me some breathing space to consider RCT further down the line, which might be inevitable, and allow me chance to save up to have it done privately.

I was particularly interested in what tirednewdad said about the sinus as I've had a hard lump on my gum above a "dead" tooth (had RCT on it many years ago) for a very long time now. It's never really caused me any problems, although was suspected to be contributing to recent problems, and is still present even though everything has now settled down since my last lot of treatment. I assume it's a result of past infections and abscesses

hethmar

mrs a - have a look on the net to find private dentists in your area, they often have a website where you can see what the surgery is like, what they specialise in etc. and when you have chosen a couple, go in (and as toothsmith says), on the pretence of picking up some leaflets or something, see what the place is like, the atmosphere etc. and then make your appointment for an assessment on the tooth that is causing you so much worry. If you are still told it cant be saved, at least you will feel you have tried. (My private chap says as long as the root is sound, a lot can be done other than extraction - so I wish you the best of luck )

tirednewdad

Oddly enough. Kids teeth are probably better looked after with this new contract than ever before, as the dentist is paid to place protective coverings on teh teeth (fissure sealants) which prevent the build up of plaque in the biting surface of teeth and therefore less fillings.
ALso if a child isnot looking after them as well you can change the recalls to 3 monthly, thus seeing them for 4 times a year rathan than just twice a year. Wierd how the same does not happen for adults.- just the way it is a supose.

It is also different in a dentists compared to a hospital as the hospital is salaried, while the dentist gets paid for each treatment they do.

alison999

mrs_angry wrote: »

[ the nhs does not pay dentists to 'talk'

i wouldnt go in to an nhs hospital for an op and not have it explained to me what was going to happen to my body.

so why any different for an nhs dentist? are they not human?[/quote]

i dont think what i tried to say came across right.

a private dentist can spend as long as he/she wants to explain your treatment thoroughly and you have time to ask as many questions as you would like... on the nhs though, your dentist would probably always have one eye on the clock so to speak, i didnt mean that your treatment wouldnt be explained to you at all. a private practice i used to work at, the dentist would regularly take 40+ minutes explaining treatments, that could never happen on the nhs.

mrs_angry

tirednewdad wrote: »

Oddly enough. Kids teeth are probably better looked after with this new contract than ever before, as the dentist is paid to place protective coverings on teh teeth (fissure sealants) which prevent the build up of plaque in the biting surface of teeth and therefore less fillings.
ALso if a child isnot looking after them as well you can change the recalls to 3 monthly, thus seeing them for 4 times a year rathan than just twice a year. Wierd how the same does not happen for adults.- just the way it is a supose.

It is also different in a dentists compared to a hospital as the hospital is salaried, while the dentist gets paid for each treatment they do.

this is not true my 8 year old boy has a problem with weak teeth that are snapping etc and our dentist just waits until they need extracting, ok they are baby teeth but thats not the point, she only sees him twice a year if I'm lucky enough to be able to get him an appointment twice a year, as our dentist does not let you book your next 6 month appointment in advance so by the time i get the reminder he may have to wait a further 3 months.

and please correct me if I'm wrong but are you stating that nhs dentists are paid on commission like a salesman

god help us then if doctors were ever paid by the patient

and please correct me again but Ive read many many articles that say dentist whether nhs or private earn a good wage,and are receiving more funding from the government, mine only does 9 to 5 Mon to Fri

the pricing structure had to change because too many dentists were performing unnecessary work(to earn their wage), and some were sued by patients because of this, now its going back the other way,and they are just not performing necessary work to earn their wage

my opinion is that nhs dentists are sort of holding the government and patients to ransom with the we will go to a private only practice, if nhs dentists are so poor what stops them turning to private practice then there must be an incentive to being a nhs dentist and from my experience its not for the love of the job or care of their patients .

Toothsmith

tirednewdad wrote: »

Oddly enough. Kids teeth are probably better looked after with this new contract than ever before, as the dentist is paid to place protective coverings on teh teeth (fissure sealants) which prevent the build up of plaque in the biting surface of teeth and therefore less fillings.

How do you come to that?

Dentists aren't 'paid' for doing anything anymore on the NHS. They get the same amount of money, but have to hit a points total at the end of each year to be allowed to earn the same next year.

Aren't fissure sealants all lumped into band 1 - along with the check-up and the clean up? So for a check-up clean-up and all the fissure sealants, it's still just 1 UDA?

Or do fissure sealants take it up to band 2 and 3 UDA? I'm not sure as I haven't had anything to do with that system.

BTW - how does everybody feel about the new Government offensive via the tabloids at the moment? Telling everybody that their NHS dentist is 'ripping them and the system off' if they tell you you need anything more than a 2 yearly check-up?